Blog:Yildiz "eyes silver" in global snacks

Yildiz Holding reportedly wants its snacks business to overtake Kellogg and become the world's second-largest snack manufacturer.?

Ali Ülker, head of global innovation at Yildiz, told reporters in Istanbul yesterday (18 March) the company is aiming at snack revenue of TRY30bn (US$11.54bn) in 2015. The Turkish conglomerate is currently the world's third-largest snack group. No time-frame for the execution of this ambition was mentioned but aggressive Yildiz would seem to have Kellogg in its sights.

Yildiz owns local confectioner Ülker and has expanded its snacking presence through M&A, including snapping up chocolate business Godiva, and, more recently, pipping Kellogg to acquire UK-based biscuit maker United Biscuits. The firm has since further stepped up its presence in the food industry with the acquisition of shares in G2M, a foodservice company servicing events and institutions, from private-equity firm Actera Group.

Innovation, alongside M&A has been key to growth, Ülker is quoted as having said.

In contrast, Kellogg's sales have come under pressure in recent years. For the 12 months to the end of December, Kellogg revealed net sales slid 1.4% to $1.6bn as the company was hit by declining snack sales in North America.

After catapulting itself onto the snacking scene with the transformative Pringles acquisitionin 2012, Kellogg's M&A ambitions have been of the bolt-on variety. This year, the group expanded in Egypt with the purchase of snack group Bisco Misr. But smaller, less risky deals that present a strong ROI case are the order of the day for Kellogg.

With an aggressive and highly acquisitive competitor snapping at its heels, is the heat about to be turned up for the US-based snack-to-cereal company?

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